Lured

Chapter 5- Ghost

I got the feeling that Captain Price had been keeping me busy far away from himself, and from Ceri. Ordinarily that wouldn't have bothered me, and yet I got the feeling he was hiding something. I trusted the man with my life, and yet his desire to not talk about Ceri spoke spades. Something was up. Especially after I'd seen her leaving her room all dolled up. Fuck, she'd looked mouth watering and I'd forgotten all of my suspicions. I'd been about to corner her and demand some answers when she'd come barrelling out like a woman on a mission. 

Price had received an earful when he dismissed my report that she was clearly up to something. Since then, I'd been relegated to the armoury doing a stock take. I knew I'd fucked up when he delegated that task to me. Since then, I'd tried to find her file. Except almost anyone I asked couldn't even tell me who the fuck she was. Like she'd appeared out of thin air. Either that or Price had buried her file so far from prying eyes no one knew where it was.

Then! Then she had been avoiding me. I caught whiffs of her signature perfume down halls as if she'd been there moments before but had disappeared the moment I was due to arrive. Until this morning. I'd been awake all night,my thoughts like a whirlpool. Ideas sinking to the ragged depths before they even had a chance to float. I'd walked by her room, not even realising how early she got up. Her appearance had startled me out of my thoughts so thoroughly I couldn't even remember what I'd been thinking in the first place. 

Then she asked me to train with her as if she hadn't been avoiding me for close to a week. Surprised, I agreed. Not like I was getting any sleep anyway. My lip curling in disgust when she mentions the men on base eyeing her off when she was just trying to train. Her offer to spar caught me by surprise. I thought maybe weights, or cardio. I remember how fatigued she seemed after our mission together and had been about to comment as such, instead I agreed to the sparring much, her assurances that I was definitely the better sparring feeding my ego that really didn't need feeding. 

Our banter made some small part of me relax and it seemed like my thoughts cleared up like some fog had been lifted. I was genuinely enjoying her company, she managed to bring out the competitive side of me, like I wanted to prove to her that I was worthy of her backhanded praise she'd given. And then she bit me. Fuck. If I hadn't locked my knees in, I'd have collapsed. My heart started hammering in my chest and I knew she could feel it. Her soft whispers voice in my ear making my brain turn to fog again. Normally the women flirting with me I ignored,not even remotely interested. But when Ceri teased me about enjoying the too hard bite, not even I could believe the lie, breathlessly told as I tried not to roll my eyes, hold her close and beg for more. 

Despite the fact she didn't believe me at face value she slid from my body and backed away. I had to force myself to stop from reaching out and pulling her back towards me so I could kiss her. Bite her back. Her bite mark on my neck would bruise, it felt like a brand like she'd marked me as her own. As she prowled around the ring it felt like I was slowly coming back to myself. 

The first thing I noticed was her. She didn't seem as heart-rendingly beautiful as I initially thought. I wondered if perhaps I had rose coloured lenses on making me see someone ethereal. 

Her grin was a little bit crooked, and her eyes were a normal hazel colour. They didn't seem to shine with an inner glow. I don't know what had changed as my eyes landed on her soft pink lips that didn't look nearly as plump and full as I had thought, but I thought this version was more beautiful. More real. Surprisingly, her hair had become more lustrous, a deep onyx black that looked so soft I wanted to run my fingers through it. This version of her didn't make me want to run off with my suspicious nature. I wondered if maybe I was thinking with my cock instead of my brain and yet it didn't bother me. She didn't seem to act any differently. She didn't act like she knew what had happened in the last few minutes. I decided to see this through, see where our training session would lead and go from there.